The work by artist who raped his daughters stands above an entrance to BBC Broadcasting House and was attacked by a protester last year
The BBC will begin restoring the Eric Gill sculpture outside its London headquarters after it was vandalised in 2022. The work, commissioned to depict Prospero and Ariel from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, was attacked with a hammer by a protester last year. There have long been calls to remove public works by Gill after his private diaries – published half a century after the artist’s death in 1940 – revealed he had sexually abused his two eldest daughters.
Gill’s sculpture was carved onsite for Broadcasting House in 1931 and 1932, one of many high-profile commissions awarded to the sculptor during his lifetime. The work caused a degree of controversy at the time over the size of the sprite’s genitalia; Gill later said that he didn’t understand why the Shakespearean characters were relevant and that his statue actually depicted God and Jesus.
